Saint Petersburg

Palace Square is considered to be the city’s main square and serves as an excellent example of how different architectural styles can be combined in a most elaborate and aesthetically pleasing way. It was the setting of many events of worldwide significance, including the Bloody Sunday 1905 and the October Revolution of 1917. The Palace Square is simply breathtaking.

Beautiful yellow palace that was once home to the wealthy and respected Yusupov family stands by the Moika River. It was also the site of Grigori Rasputin’s murder in 1916, a dark episode in Russia’s history. Let yourself be guided through this palace, the full story of the murder of Rasputin will unfold before you.

Great composers and writers, lie in the Tikhvin cemetery of this monastery/cathedral complex. One of the oldest architectural ensembles of Saint Petersburg, Alexander Nevsky Lavra was built in 1710.

The State Museum of the History of Religion is one of the world’s few museums and the only one of its kind in Russia with its permanent exhibition featuring the origin and development of Religion. The Museum collection numbers about 200 000 exhibits. It houses a wide range of historical and cultural artifacts from various countries, ages, and peoples. The Museum keeps collections that cover a vast expanse of time from the Archaic (c. 6000 BC) and Ancient Egypt and Israel Times to the early Middle Ages in Europe; from the Ancient Greece and Rome to the present day. The history of Buddhism and Islam is also presented on the display.

The Summer Garden is one of the places where one can feel the atmosphere of Peter's time. The garden with a collection of sculptures and the Summer Palace that was the first Emperor's residence constitute a single museum complex.

Kunstkamera - Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography - was the first museum in Russia. It has a unique collection of antiques, revealing the history and way of life of many people. But for many people this museum is known for the collection of "freaks" - anatomical curiosities and anomalies.

Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is 86 metres below ground. Serving 2.15 million passengers daily, it is also the 16th busiest metro system in the world. Every station has its unique style. The most beautiful stations are on the red line (Avtovo, Kirovskiy zavod, Ploshad Vosstaniya).

Yelagin Island is a unique protected natural complex. It is the northernmost island in the Neva delta, laved with Big Nevka in the north, with Central Nevka in the south and south-east, and shooting out with the narrow cape into the Gulf of Finland. At one time a royal residence, Yelagin Island since the middle of last century passed into the possession of the state and became the Central Park of Culture and Recreation, and from this moment it opened its doors to all comers. Today Kirov Central Park is a dynamically developing cultural and recreational space, suitable for audiences of different age groups and interests. There is a small zoo for young visitors. In summertime you can rent a bike, roller skates, boat, waterbike. In wintertime you can rent the skates and go skating in the open skating rink. In the alleys of the park, you will meet squirrels that will take nuts from your hands.

The Bronze Horseman is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great Commissioned by Catherine the Great, it was created by the French sculptor Étienne Maurice Falconet. The name comes from an 1833 poem of the same the name by Aleksander Pushkin, which is widely considered one of the most significant works of Russian literature. The statue is now one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg. The statue's pedestal is the enormous Thunder Stone, the largest stone ever moved by man. The stone originally weighed about 1500 tonnes, and was carved down to 1250 during transportation to its current site.

Pavlovsk is the palace-and-park ensemble and summer residence of Grand Prince Pavel (who became later the Emperor Pavel I). Pavlovsk Park was conceived by Cameron as a classic English landscape garden, an idealized landscape filled with picturesque pieces of classical architecture, designed to surprise and please the viewer. Pavlovsk Palace has state rooms designed by some of St. Petersburg's most famous architects, including Quarenghi, Rossi and Voronikhin, the first Russian-born architect to make a significant contribution to one of the Imperial palaces.

The St. Petersburg Chamber Opera was created by director Yuri Alexandrov in 1987. It was intended to be a creative laboratory and soon took a prominent place in St.Petersburg musical and drama sphere, winning the reputation of “the living opera” or “the searching theatre.” Nowadays artistic director Yuri Alexandrov constantly follows the modern operatic drama, considering it necessary for the theatre’s full artistic development. Over the years, he has staged the operas “I believe” by Piguzov, “The Fifth Journey of Christopher Columbus” and “Spotted Dog Running at the Edge of the Sea” by Smelkov, “White Rose” by Zimmerman, “Cornet Christoph Rilke's song of love and death” by Mattus. His creative approach to the musical content allows the director to incorporate an opera performance in the modern context. The St. Petersburg Chamber Opera performances are annually nominated to most prestigious Russian awards, Golden Mask and Golden Spotlight.